Notes on life, art, photography and technology, by a Danish bohemian and ne'er-do-well.

"At the centre of an uncertain and possibly illusory Universe there would always be tea." -And Another Thing, sixth book in the Hitchhiker trilogy

Monday, May 25, 2009

Art prints sales

Does anybody know of a good "fulfillment" service for digital art prints? Meaning somebody who will take my digital files (photos or digital art), take payment from a customer, print it in good quality, and ship it?I could easily print them myself, but I really don't fancy a trip to the post office for every little sale.

The local mail box can only handle postcard-sized prints, and I might actually do those also, it would have the advantage that I can sign them (and can use fancy paper). But I'd like to be able to offer bigger prints too.

TTL said:

I took a look at the services mentioned in the comments above and they seem to be primarily photo printing services, not art printing services.Deviantart has a "giclée on premium matte" print option, but it doesn't mention anything about the paper stock or inks. No mention of light-fastness either. It's probably ok for hobbiest prints, but not gallery quality.

14 Comments:

I've heard from other that ezPrints.com are supposed to be good. I got a test print colour chart from them but never got around to using them to print. So I can only vouch that I heard from others they were good. You may also check smugmug or zenfolio - well known and I believe they do direct shipping for "pro" orders. The place I have used was for just regular quality photos and they shipped for me when I sold some travel shot sets on ebay. They worked well but unfortunately I can't recall the name now as it's been quite a few years since I did that.

I could easily print them myself, but I really don't fancy a trip to the post office for every little sale.

You could always batch those visits. If you advertise beforehand that shipping day is, say, every Friday, then you have no obligation to ship orders any more often than once a week.

And supposedly, once in awhile you have to visit the post office for other reasons too, so if you make those visits coincide with your shipping day, then you won't necessarily have to visit the place any more often than you normally would.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but this at least is how I operate and it's worked quite well. In fact, I've kind of learned to enjoy those trips. Of course, I live within a short walking distance from the P.O. which makes it easy.

I took a look at the services mentioned in the comments above and they seem to be primarily photo printing services, not art printing services.

Deviantart has a "giclée on premium matte" print option, but it doesn't mention anything about the paper stock or inks. No mention of light fastness either. It's probably ok for hobbiest prints, but not gallery quality. A fantastic website otherwise!

Of course, there is a bit of a paradox with 3rd party on-demand printing of art. Especially if they also take care of fulfillment. For, what makes art valuable (i.e. collectable) is limited runs and the artist's signature. And the whole raison d'être of on-demand printing is the exact opposite!

But since you are a digital kind of guy who doesn't like to get your hands dirty, you probably should try to invent your own medium or form of distribution or something.